The Dot

This project came from the blog Drip Drip Splatter Splash.  I wanted to do this in September for International Dot Day but we were busy back then.  I thought this would be a fun one day project with next week being the last week of school.  I read the students the book (even the 6th graders are quiet with awe), The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds, and then we paint our own dots!  I provided circle stencils for students to trace the dot and they painted with tempera cakes.  Too much fun!  

Torn Paper Op Art

This is a fun, simple project that the fifth and sixth graders completed in one or two class periods.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  I was not able to locate the blog that had this project so if anyone knows of it's origin, please let me know!  I would like to give proper credit for this idea! Thanks!

The students take a 2"x3" piece of construction paper in the color of their choice and carefully tear it into three pieces.  Then they arrange the pieces on a sheet of drawing paper and glue them down.  The students then begin to draw a line around one of the pieces, following its shape.  When the line reaches where it began there are two choices.  One is to close the shape and start again to make a new line and continue this process.  The other choice is to continue the one line and spiral around.  The student may start tracing around the other pieces at any time.  When the line is about to collide with another shape the student can either stop and start again on the other side of the shape or go around both of the shapes.  This process is repeated until the paper is full.

Self-Portrait Collages

The fifth graders have been diligently working to complete these self-portraits.  They added color to them with tissue paper and Mod Podge.  We love Mod Podge in our art room!  This art project was a long one and I never thought I would see the end of the little tissue paper pieces all over the place day after day!  However, it was worth it!

Op Art Landscapes

This year the sixth graders have been learning about landscapes.  This design ties in with the landscape, yet brings a different twist: Op art!

Microscopic Design Tiles

This lesson came from the School Arts Magazine from October of 2011, which you can view by clicking on the word MICROSCOPE.

I do this lesson with 6th graders.  The students are creating a design on a tile that is inspired by microscopic images.  This lesson extends across the curriculum because the students study cells in science.  The first thing we do is watch a Brain Pop video about cells after I explain that this project will be inspired by microscopic images.  Then I show a Power Point of microscopic images and I ask the students to look at the images as if they were designs and point out the elements and principles of art in them.

Each student gets a sheet of paper that is the same size as the tile that they will later be using and they begin to draw their design.  I explain that the design will be transferred to the tile so the students need to take their time and draw a finished design, not a quick sketch.  I encourage the students to use line and shape and that this is an abstract design.  They are not drawing things that we would recognize in every day life.

During the next art period the tables are set up like this .  The colors of glazes, for the most part, correspond with the colors of the tables.  Each table is assigned a different color with a sign above.  You can see this set up here.
I use these white, plastic lids as trays to keep the glazes on.  I am using underglazes and the students will later apply clear, gloss glaze after the designs are complete.
You might be wondering why I have a firing cone on the table!  Last year when I first did this project, at the last minute I realized that the students needed a way to write their name and class code on the back of their tile.  Otherwise it would be a nightmare trying to figure out who's was who's when we were passing them back each day. Pencil would just burn off in the kiln and I didn't have any special pencils meant for just that purpose.  So I was looking around in my ceramic supplies for something that might work.  I found these cones that are larger than the ones I use because there used to be a kiln in my room that used them but it was removed 8 years ago when I first arrived at this school because it was a dinosaur and did not work anymore.  I tried one out and it works like a piece of chalk and does not burn off when the tiles are fired.  So, this is what the students use to write their name and code on the back of their tile.

The students choose three colors that are contrasting.  I tell them to pick two light colors and one dark color or two dark colors and one light color.  The students apply three coats of each color, drying each coat in between (we use fans to speed up the drying process).  

 During the next class the students get back their tile and the design that they drew on paper two class periods ago.   This is the step when the students transfer the image to the tile.  First the students color the back of the paper with their pencil making sure the entire sheet is covered with graphite.  Then they turn it over on the tile, colored side down, and so they can see their design.  They trace the lines of their design with pencil, pressing down so the image is transferred to the tile. 

 

The next step is the fun part!  The students get two different scratch art tools, one with a rounded nib and the other with a pointy nib.  I tell the students to scratch the design and reveal all of the colors of glazes that they applied.  This process is called sgraffito and it is an Italian word that means "to scratch."

After the students have finished scratching their designs they apply three coats of clear, gloss glaze to the tile.  

I will post pictures after the tiles are fired.  I am excited to see what they look like finished!!!

A Tour of My Art Room

Welcome to room 301 art at Berry Intermediate School! Come on in for a tour of my art room. You may see some ideas that you are familiar with.  I have used a lot of ideas that I have found on Pinterest and other art teachers' blogs.

Although I am in the oldest school in the district, I am pretty lucky.  The art room in my school is a great art room.  It is a big room with a lot of storage.  I have two sinks and a large storage closet in addition to many more cabinets for supplies and student work.

These chalk pastel drawings that are on the art room door are from several years ago.  In the past for about 10 years I held a street painting festival at my school.  Each class chose a painting by a famous artist and copied it on our parking lot pavement.  One year the theme was Vincent Van Gogh and it rained so we had the festival indoors and drew on paper.  The teacher aides laminated them for me.  These are two of the many that were made.

There are eight tables and four chairs at each table.



Each table is assigned a color.  I made my Mona Lisa signs by copying the painting onto two transparencies per sign, one for each side.  I put a  sheet of construction paper between them and framed each sign with black construction paper.

I use this bulletin board to display a sampling of projects.  There is not a lot of display space in my room or in my school for as many students as there are so I try to change the displays that I do have as much as possible to allow as many students as possible to have their work displayed.


There are two sinks in my art room.  The one closest to you is eternally clogged.

During each class period the classes can earn up to three points.  A "points person" keeps track of this here.

The "points person" moves the class clothes pin according to the number of points earned during class.  When they reach the end of the game board they earn a reward day.  On a reward day there are stations set up on each table and each station has a different project to make.  What they make on reward day goes home with them that day.

This is my faithful paper cutter.  It came to this school with me when I moved from a different school in the district.  It has been with me since I started teaching in this district 13 years ago.  :) 

Lots of storage!!!

This is my slab roller.  It also makes a good place to store clay underneath.  

I purchased it last year and used it for a 6th grade clay project.  It worked very well but it takes a lot of physical labor when preparing for 16 classes of 6th graders!

There are two of these shelves and they are used for storage of 2-D work. 

Yes, I do have two kilns.  I do not run them both at the same time but having a second kiln does come in handy.  I load one while the other is cooling and this saves time.  The reason I have two kilns is because the school that I currently teach in was a middle school prior to being an intermediate school and it had two art rooms, each with its own kiln.  When it became an intermediate school the kiln on the right was moved from a room in the basement to my 3rd floor art room.

 Student computers:  I let students use them as a part of Warrior's Choice which I will explain later.  I allow them to only visit websites that I list on the front of the computer on sticky labels.  I don't allow them to go on just any website.  It has to be art related of course.  One of the web sites is called:
Art Zone.

 A view of the room from behind the sinks.

This wall is something that I dreamed up toward the end of the year last school year.  First I painted the wall and then I looked for frames at yard sales and collected them even if they were not black.  The ones that were not black I painted  and I also took out the glass and cardboard.  First I mounted them with Velcro but some of them didn't stay up so I asked the maintenance department to mount the larger ones to the wall with screws.   They are interchangeable because I plan on displaying different things in the frames throughout the year.  The items are just taped to the wall.
The bottom image is an 8' x 12'  bottle cap "painting" of Monet's Water Lilies that the entire school worked on two years ago.  It now hangs in our cafeteria.

 
I use this dry erase board to post the projects of the day.

There are six windows in the room.  I made these curtains over the summer by sewing simple panels.  The curtains are hanging on spring rods.

The goals for each grade/project are posted on the cabinets for the students to see.

This is the back corner of the room.  The cabinets span the entire length of the back wall.  I featured some artists on some of the cabinets.

"The Warrior Way in the Art Room"  "I will be Ready.....I will be Respectful....I will be Responsible....I will be Safe. "  The Warrior Way is what is expected of the students at Berry Intermediate and there are specific expectations in each area of the school.  We go over this on the first day but of course they are reminded of it regularly!

My desk is not usually this organized!

Document camera: I don't know what I would do without it and I cannot bare to think about the days when I didn't have it yet!  

Shelves for paper, markers, drawing books etc...

The golden broom award is an incentive to encourage students to do a good job cleaning up.  At the end of each class I judge how well a class cleaned up.  If clean up is to my liking I will give the class a ticket or more to write their teacher's name on.  They drop it in one of these jars you see sitting on the top shelf.  At the end of the week I draw a winner for each grade and they get to keep the "golden broom" (a small broom spray painted gold)  in their classroom for a week.   The class that wins is randomly picked, however, they have to do a good job cleaning up to get a chance at winning.  

The helper group does jobs like passing out and collecting art work.  This changes weekly.

Reward Day Activities Shelf:  When a class earns a reward day they take a break from the normally scheduled lesson.  Each table has a bin on this shelf that has a different activity to do.  The activities include free-draw, sun catchers (permanent markers and transparency film), calligraphy markers, coloring sheets, watercolor pencils/crayons, bookmark making, and a couple of other make-it-take-it activities.   When a class earns reward day I explain each activity and a student from each table comes and gets the bin for their table.  At the end of art each table makes sure that the bin is organized for the next class who uses it and brings the bin back up to the shelf.  

In-progress art work storage by class.  

Clean-up times.

Light table to look at slides. 

It can be a challenge to keep up with those students who finish before everyone else and engage them in something meaningful and interesting to them.  I have created a variety of activities just for this purpose and I call it Warrior's Choice.  The Warrior is our school mascot and I wanted to give this group of activities a name that would catch the students' interest.  Our school is full of spirit!  

When students have completed the main project, meeting all expectations and not rushing through just to get to this, they can go to the shelf and choose an activity.  The activities consist of chalk boards, drawing and shading, interior design, modeling clay (the most popular!), activity sheets, graph paper, origami (another popular one), collage, and games.  The light table and the computers are also part of Warrior's Choice.  

Thank you to those art teachers who shared ideas that contributed to parts of my classroom!  I hope you enjoyed the tour.  Come back again soon!